agribusiness development corporation: revisited - Legislative ...

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND STAKEHOLDERS IN THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY
• Establish performance standards for ADC's Board of Directors and staff
• ADC should establish standards or milestones for each separate project it undertakes
with which it can oversee and determine whether a project is successful
• Remove DOA's oversight of ADC programs and projects
• Restore ADC's procurement code exemption
No Further Study Needed; Implementation Needed
Perhaps the most emphatic comment in this regard came from Ms. Stephanie Whalen,
President and Director ofHARC:
With respect to the preparation of a Hawaii agribusiness plan I would like to bring to
your attention if you haven't already discovered it that there have been at least 8 such
plans without implementation since 1966. These were either called State Agricultural
Plans or State Agricultural Functional Plans or similar titles. None of these plans have
been implemented nor is there much difference among them. The issues have been
recognized for decades; solutions have been suggested; little implementation has
occurred.
Ms. Whalen goes on to note, as do other respondents, that "The Hawaii Farm Bureau
Federation, an organization representing the farming community, has the most recently
developed A Strategic Plan for Hawaii's Agriculture.... As all the state plans before it, it
identifies what needs to be done. What is needed is for all the support organizations to work
with this 'plan' and develop and support action items within their expertise for implementation."
Further in her response she states: "If the goal ofthis is to support agricultural (sic), then another
plan is not needed. What is needed is a recognition that the necessary elements have been
identified over and over again in the past 4 decades in at least 9 plans already."
In a similar note, Ms. Teena Rasmussen, Chairperson of ADC states: "The Hawaii Farm
Bureau Federation completed a very comprehensive plan titled 'Strategic Plan for Hawaii's
Agriculture.' ... We urge the LRB to look at these plans and studies in detail, and avoid a
duplication of effort." Also the Maui County Farm Bureau stated: "The Hawaii Farm Bureau
Federation has prepared and regularly updates a Strategic Vision and Implementation Actions for
Agriculture in Hawaii. ... We strongly recommend that this Vision and Plan be used as the basis
a (sic) Hawaii Agribusiness Plan. Duplication of effort is counterproductive. Rather, time
would be better spent further developing the implementation actions."
Similarly, HFBF notes: "ADC should expound on the existing general agricultural plans
and move into the implementation state with annual review of performance and measurement
standards." Further in its response, HFBF states: "The Bureau should use existing agricultural
plans such as the Farm Bureaus' (sic) strategic plan and the DOA's general agricultural plan.
This will reduce duplication of resources and efforts to start a whole new plan. At this point, we
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